Episodes
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Chad Elkins, CPA, discussed bewildering and draconian ways people scrambled their finances during the pandemic. While many small business owners suffered losses and experienced great personal distress, others actually thrived and even doubled their incomes! Read the full blog post for episode #147 at safetyphd.com. ABOUT CHAD ELKINS. Chad has over ten years of tax experience, including positions and engagements with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Tax Court, and U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, and Co-Author of the Elkins' Comprehensive Tax Guide. He’s the oracle of Chicago finance with a penchant for observing nuanced trends in how humans manage the fiscal aspects of their lives. SOME PEOPLE BAILED OUT IMMEDIATELY. Chad noted that some of his clients, mainly hair stylists, quit paying rent, broker their leases, and liquidated their assets. They didn’t have enough reserve cash to ride out the economic collapse and succumbed to panic-driven decision making. Chad encouraged them to consider suspending their businesses or waiting a few weeks for the forthcoming government relief programs. Even businesses that were established for multiple years and that had been performing well prior to the pandemic were dissolving, to Chad’s disappointment, as owners simply wanted out of the churn of safer-at-home and essential business decrees. TELEHEALTH-BASED THERAPISTS “ARE THRIVING BETTER THAN THEY EVER HAVE BEFORE” Once limited by regulation, telehealth therapy was quickly advanced by regulatory agencies and Chad’s clients that provided mental health or other counseling services were experiencing a combination of factors that swelled their incomes. First, the demand for mental health and counseling services substantially increased due to pandemic-driven anxiety in the population. Second, therapists don’t need specialized, localized machines or equipment to do their jobs. When you go to the dentist, for example, the dentist’ office has hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment that is not designed to be portable. There isn’t a “teledentistry” service to address your root canal. A mental health therapist, on the other hand, is easily location independent given a secure, private Internet connection. And, telehealth has built-in social distancing! CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG - REMOTE WORK IS HERE TO STAY. Chad believes that the pandemic-driven rapid move to remote work, such as work from home, has set the precedence that traditional office-based work isn’t necessary to maintain continuity in businesses. This likely means there will be a massive purge of office space and business-dense metropolises, such as Chicago, will lose appeal for employers and employees. PPP AND SBE LOANS WORKED - WITH CONSEQUENCES. The PPP was rolled out as a way to keep employees on payroll, even if they weren’t working - as long as owners proved that they used 80% of money for salaries. But, it caused problems as many employees were laid off and went onto unemployment - which was paying them $600 weekly ABOVE the unemployment payment they received from the state. For many people, they were now receiving as much or more money they were when they were employed. Hence, when asked to return to work - employees balked. As restrictions eased and businesses re-started, employers struggled to lure employees back to their jobs so had to recruit new employees. REDLINE VIRTUAL REALITY LOUNGE - NOW RENTING OFFICE PODS. Opened and thriving for four months before the pandemic closures, Redline Virtual Reality Lounge in Chicago is an example of a small business that had to pivot several times in order to adjust to new market trends. Aaron, the owner of Redline, shared his lounge survived on carry out orders and renting VR equipment between April 18th and June 11th. When he re-opened at limited capacity, business was very slow - and very different. People showed up with laptops and asked to rent a 9’x9’ VR pod for the day to serve as a portable office. Some lived in hot apartments or had poor wifi. So, for $15 a day, they could rent a cool work area with excellent wifi and social distancing. Aaron noted that small groups of 3-4 people rented a pod to conduct in-person business for a few hours. David noted that Parkinson’s Law is the adage that people seek clear routines to start and end the work day. Perhaps going to the VR pod met that need? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-13-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Chad Elkins, CPA website: https://www.elkinscpa.com/
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
SDP146: Survival Expert Morgan Rogue | Subtle Signs of Chaos | Livestream 8-7-2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Morgan Rogue’s mantra is to conquer tomorrow by preparing today! She lives on 40 acres of land in the southern United States with her husband, two daughters and two dogs. She is the owner and founder of Rogue Preparedness, a website dedicated to emergency preparedness and survival skills. Morgan has published extensively in crisis preparedness and response including Preparedness For Busy People, and Prepare & Survive Economic Crisis - which is a primer to help people understand bartering, valuable items, and controlling fear. She has a fast-growing YouTube channel with diverse content including: hunting, survival, camping, hiking, guns, prepping, urban survival, family preparedness, bug out bags, gear reviews, prepping on a budget, dogs, homesteading, and all things outdoors and adventure. New videos and blog posts are published weekly! WHY MORGAN WAS INVITED TO THIS SHOW. Morgan is an authentic person seeking knowledge. She doesn’t hesitate to post a first-take video of attempting to build a solar-powered food dehydrator. Don’t get me wrong, she presents as a tremendously competent person. Her videos and posts are concise, personable and interesting without massive editing or saturated with promotions. Morgan reveals that life and preparedness have bumpy first takes. After reading Morgan’s posts, watching her videos, and exploring her website, I discovered, or perhaps re-discovered, an appreciation of preparedness and immediately re-visited the things I could do to increase my survival skills. In an infamous Tweet, I wrote, “Her [Morgan’s] contributions to safety stand out as curated and calibrated with easements for people new to preparedness as well as experienced preppers.” That sums it up - and I hope that makes it onto the praise page of one of her future best sellers. PREPAREDNESS AS A PARENT OF YOUNG KIDS. Are kids a liability during a crisis? Some people think so, but not Morgan. She’s noted that there is no magic age to introduce children to survival and self-reliance skills. Her kids are with her when she hikes, her daughter has used a survival straw to drink from a creek, and Morgan published a brilliant blog post of 45 outdoor activities for kids in a time when parks and theaters were closed due to the pandemic. One recommendation was to have kids draw a map of their house, neighborhood, or a trail. Spatial orientation. Distance. Landmarks. Planning. What Morgan shares isn’t data you offload until a disaster - instead, it’s vetted advice on how to make yourself better - right now. SUBTLE SIGNS OF CHAOS - SEWING MACHINES. The early days of the coronavirus stay home orders sparked scarcity buying - toilet paper, pasta, and cleaners. When people anticipate that a chaos event will last months, other items begin to disappear from the market. Morgan shared that she was unable to find a new or used sewing machine in May. Locating a freezer was equally challenging, despite searching stores and secondary online sites such as Craigslist. LEARN A SKILL TODAY. Morgan identified several ways that people could improve their self-reliance today. Everything takes practice, but most people can learn to sharpen a knife, make basic sewing repairs or grow food - even if in a container inside their house. Also, get fit! Fit people are better able to get to safety, recover from trauma, help others, and be easier to be aided by others. COMMUNICATIONS - CONSIDER HAM RADIO. Should you consider a landline (in case the cell towers fail)? Morgan noted that a landline is valuable, and added that there are still payphone locations in some areas and those might be an option if cellular communications are disrupted during a crisis. She encourages people to learn more about HAM radio. Morgan and her husband use HAM radios and communicate with people hundreds of miles away. Every year, HAM radio conducts a Field Day which is an amatuer radio experience to demonstrate temporary transmitting stations in public places - with an emphasis on emergency communication preparedness. A basic HAM radio receiver (listen only) is $50. Morgan notes that the HAM radio community has always been essential and reliable during crisis events. She identified a few organizations to visit to learn more about obtaining a HAM license. HAM’s more than survival, it’s a wonderful hobby. Many colleges, for example, have HAM radio clubs. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-7-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Rogue Preparedness website: https://roguepreparedness.com/
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Commercial fishing has long topped the Bureau of Labor Statistics' list of jobs with the most fatalities -- and crabbing in the Alaskan waters is by far the most lethal form of fishing. Guest Robert Travis shares his experiences as a greenhorn deckhand straight out of Dutch Harbor and re-lives harrowing tales of surviving a treacherous 122-day stint fishing for Alaskan crab on the frigid, unforgiving Bering Sea. Read the full blog post for episode #145 at safetyphd.com. PRO SNOWBOARDER. After high school, Rob was a sponsored professional snowboarder and a coach at the Camp of Champions for four summers in Whistler Blackcomb - which is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America. He broke his tib/fib in July and was put in full leg cast. The lure of adventure and cash called, and Rob cut off the cast with an angle grinder and headed to Alaska for crabbing season. ALASKAN CRABBING - SIGNING THE DEADLY CONTRACT. Rob shared that he nearly walked away from his opportunity to sign a contract with a crab boat company. The harrowing tales told by locals were just about enough to turn back the men that have a predisposition to seek this level of risk. However, Rob signed the contract and clearly understood the statement that he would experience injury or be killed by doing this work. Survive, and pocket more than $65,000 for 4 months work. Also, know that a 5-year “veteran” deckhand is a rarity as most are maimed or killed before they reach that mark. DANGERS ON DECK. Working on a 198-foot converted ice breaker, Rob was fortunate to be on one of the most durable rigs out on the ocean. Most crabbing takes place in the unforgiving Bering Sea. Ice can coat boat decks, 700-pound cages being winched aboard can lurch and sweep workers overboard. Even in a survival suit, designed to provide insulation from cold water, death can come before help arrives. About 80% of crab fishery fatalities are from drowning. WHEN THE HORN BLOWS. 16-hour shifts were typical and the swells often unrelenting. The job was so demanding that workers consumed 7000 or more calories daily (triple the intake of a typical adult male). There was one thing that every deckhand dreaded - a blast from the ship’s horn. Rob explained that the skipper was in the wheelhouse and overlooked the deck. The skipper also monitored the ocean and could see approaching swells, some 60-feet high! The skipper would then blast the horn alerting the deckhands to immediately grab onto something sturdy and brace for the unpredictable combination of waves rolling over the deck, a rising or plummeting deck, and sharp angle tilts -- not to mention the possibility of a 700-pound crab cage breaking loose and skidding across the deck. Rob recalled the searchlights of nearby boats - trying to find and recover an overboard sailor. He noted that staying fit gave him a split-second advantage to getting to safety and noted that being light and fit are great attributes for this line of work. CONCRETE IN HIS VEINS. Concrete is the family business for Rob - it’s in his lineage, the family crest. He was pouring 250,000 square feet a summer with his dad when he was 15 and started his own concrete company at age 17 - pouring in summers and snowboarding in winters. After the 2007 crab boat season, Rob decided to start a concrete business. After regrouping from damage sustained in a massive wildfire, he continued to expand his concrete work. He’s won gold medals at the international polished concrete awards twice in craftsman and commercial division. ROOF TOP LIFE RAFTS. Roughly five years ago, Rob and a small group of friends were determined to design and build the best safety and survival gear for floods and natural disasters. Hence, Roof Top Life Rafts was founded. Millions of people around the world endure deadly, unpredictable floods from storms, natural disasters or failure of water management systems. Homeowners, office workers, students, all need a solution to get themselves to safety in an emergency flood situation. More about RTLR when Rob returns to the show later this year! FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 145 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-3-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Robert Travis’ website: https://www.rooftopliferafts.com/